ing the splendid material worship, caring little about the spiritual -the temple appearing to them so great, simply because their minds and hearts were so little; but if the apostles saw something and such as I have described, in the temple to admire, we read that our Lord found something in it to admire also. Christ, the Lord of glory, found in the temple an object that attracted his notice; and the disciples also found an object which attracted theirs. We have seen what the apostles saw and wondered atthe glorious architecture, the lofty pillars, and clustering capitals, and beautiful ornaments-these were that charmed and captivated them. But what did Christ see? Read the beginning of the chapter, and you will find there what caught his eye. Jesus looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, "Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: for all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had." The disciples saw the splendid stones-Christ saw nothing there but that humble, despised, and holy widow. And what did he see in her? He saw in that widow's soul a sanctuary more glorious than the temple of Jerusalem; and in that widow's offering a sacrifice more precious than a thousand rams, and bulls, and goats; and in that woman a living stone more splendid and enduring than all the clustering columns, and vast arches, and fretted ceilings of the temple of Jerusalem; so truly does moral excel material glory. The Jew, the disciple, the man, saw nothing but splendid architecture; the Lord Jesus was blind and indifferent to it all, and saw nothing but a poor widow casting her mites into the treasury. It is not the consecrated stone, but the holy chancel of the holy heart of the living stone; based upon the true foundation, the head Corner-stone. And wherever that widow cast in her mite and worshipped, there Christ could see a holy temple and holy ground.

We see in the next place in this candlestick many branches, forming one candlestick; denoting, that in the Christian church there should be unity of doctrine, but, it may be, diversity of

discipline; unity of principle, variety of devolopment. But I hasten to urge one or two inferences.

First, we see what the normal and radical idea of the church of Christ is. It is just wherever Christ is. We have Christ walking in the midst of these candlesticks, given as the great idea of what constitutes the essential element of the true church of Christ. "Wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." And this doctrine is the rule now, just as much as it was then: wherever Christ is walking, that is, is present, in the midst of the golden candlesticks -the place may be a prison-the number may be two-the cathedral beautiful-but it is a true church. A large audience is delightful, but the church is not confined to a numerous congregation. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." They need not meet at Loretto, or at Compostella, or at Rome, or in the oratory at Exeter; wheresoever they are met in the name of Christ, to read his word, and do his will, and lean upon his intercession and sacrifice, and pray for his blessing, and celebrate his praise, there you have the essence of a church.

Secondly, you have here the unity of the true church-Christ in the midst of the candlesticks-one light from the holy altar kindling them-one oil, the unction of the Holy One, feeding them-one Lord and High-Priest walking in the midst of them. Union to Christ is the essence of unity, and in the absence of this, all else is but the semblance and the form.

We have next the purity of the church.

Discipline may

be useful, but the great source of its unity is its realizing the presence, and hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus walking in the midst of it.

Here, too, we have the safety of the true church-not multitude, or rank, or wealth, but Christ himself in the midst of it. And, finally, you see here the glory of the true churchChrist, the light of the world, walking in the midst of it. May Christ walk in the midst of us! may he make this congregation a candlestick indeed! and may he make me, and all the ministers who speak to you from this place, stars in his right hand! May it be your prayer in your homes, the aspiration of your

hearts, that Christ would be present here; and then, whether it be rich or poor, learned or ignorant, we have a presence that is a substitute for all, when all these are gone; and which supersedes by its splendour and its glory all, when all these are present; and which will never fail us nor forsake us, until the light of this dusky twilight is lost in the noonday splendour of the millennial morn, when there shall be neither stars nor candlesticks, but the great and overflowing sea of overwhelming light, and in that clear light all will see Christ, and each other, clearly.

LECTURE V.

THE CHURCH OF EPHESUS-HER EXCELLENCY.

"Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted." -REV. ii. 1-3.

IT must be apparent to the most casual reader of the whole beautiful address to the church of Ephesus, that it naturally divides itself into three sections; the first section containing an eulogium or panegyric upon the excellence that was seen by Christ in the Ephesian church; the second section containing his rebuke, in which he points out the sins and deficiencies by which that church was stained; and the third recording the beautiful promise, "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life."

In this lecture, in reliance on the grace and Spirit of God, who has promised to teach speaker and hearer "all the truth," I will direct your attention to the first division; viz. the excellence which the great Chief Bishop of the Church saw, and approved, and applauded in the Ephesian church. Last Lord's-day evening I showed you why ministers are called stars. They are placed in the firmament--a place conspicuous and eminent; they are simply and solely for the purpose of illuminating the darkness of the night in the absence of the sun. The minister who does not shine, and whose sermons do not reflect light, is a minister whom men may have made, but whom God has not consecrated. I showed you, in the next place, that churches are likened to candlesticks, because they are constituted for the purpose of holding up the light; and I put it to the common sense of every man to determine what

is the best church. One would prefer a candlestick of gold, exquisitely chased, of great weight, and great value; but if a letter comes from a dear and distant relative, and it reaches us in the darkness of the night, and our hearts beat with anxiety to peruse it, we shall prefer a bright light upon a wooden candlestick, to no light at all upon a gold or silver one. By all means prefer the golden candlestick, but insist that there shall be light in it. Some of you may think the Church of England the golden candlestick, and the Church of Scotland the wooden one, if you like; others may think, as some do think, that it is no candlestick at all; but you are to judge of it, not by what men say, but by the light that it distributes; and, depend upon it, that the church that gives the most light is the church that does its mission best; and whether it be gold, or silver, or lead, or wood, or stone, this is the material thing this the essential thing-that it shall hold forth a light to our feet, and a lamp to our path.

I noticed next this beautiful fact, that the Lord walks in the midst of the candlesticks; in other words, that "wheresoever two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." I have often referred you to that passage; it contains the essence of a church; it is the root and pith of a church; all else, in my humble judgment-be it Independency, Presbytery, or Episcopacy-is more or less human and convenient developments of the one great essential element of a church; viz. Christ in the midst of two or three met in his name, it matters not where. Man makes much of place, and attaches great veneration to places; God attaches none. That man is destitute of taste who does not admire the noble cathedral, that seems to be the very stone of the earth bursting upward into blossom, and sending its new and sacred fragrance, like holy aspirations, to the skies; but that man is destitute of Christianity, who says there is no church outside it. I showed you, too, a very striking instance in illustration of this, namely, in the Gospel of St. Luke, where we read that when our Lord and his disciples met in the beautiful temple that was raised by Herod, they looked around them in that temple, and the disciples saw one thing, the Lord of glory saw another thing. Both the Master and his disciples, both Christ and the apostles, admired and applauded something, and each the